Archives For VIPER SmartStart

If you’re an aftermarket guy and you get an Audi R8, what would be the most important mod you make?

Sure, you might want some really high-end wheels, maybe customize the interior with extra carbon fiber parts and some gadgets, etc. But that shouldn’t be first on your priority list. Number one is protection!

As in a Viper 5204V with the DBALL interface plus DSM250 SmartStart module for your phone. Because when you have a six-figure vehicle that’s sexier than your wife, you want to ward off covetous thieves.

On display at the Top Gear Live show in the UK, the R8 distinguished itself from the crowd, even with its lowered stance of about 30mm, thanks to KW coilovers. Custom-made Rotiform SNA 3-piece wheels (9″x20″ front and a whopping 12″x20″ rear) really set off the R8 and custom carbon-fiber mirrors give it an added slick touch.

On the one hand, show attendees could watch the Top Gear Stunt Team for daredevil acts — they set a record with a 720-degree, double loop-the-loop on a motorcycle — while on the other they could observe the serene beauty of the R8 equipped with SmartStart technology. What better way to bring driver and his beloved ride closer together than with a real two-way electronic connection?

This was one of the best product demos for the Viper SmartStart that we’ve seen in awhile.

For those of you who DID miss out on Baba Booey’s review, here’s a little synopsis to help get you caught up.

Dell’Abate first emphasizes how cold New York can get in the winter and how he leaves for work at the Howard Stern show in Manhattan at 4:30 am. He says the numbers are often in the single digits when he leaves his house during the winter months.

Baba Booey asks his viewers to “imagine” what it would be like to start their car from their house on “a brutally cold day” and have it all heated up and defrosted by the time they got in the car.

Even better, Gary says that drivers can start their car from their smartphone — Viper already makes a mobile app that does just that and they’ve “improved it dramatically.”

Baba Booey does a great job running down the app’s features.

A snapshot:

SmartSchedule:“Enter in your schedule and have your car ping you at certain temperatures to tell you to warm it up.”

Auxiliary Channel Buttons:“Lets users interact remotely with any part of their car: Roll down your windows, blast the radio — anything you can imagine!”

Teen-Tracking Features of the SmartStart GPS: “My son is a teenage driver. I have an alert set that will text me every time he goes over 70 mph. If I wanted to, I could set a zone called a SmartFence so that I’m alerted every time he [my son] leaves the zone.”

“You can also set an alert that lets the user know if the vehicle has reached a certain destination. Why? In the words of the creator who demonstrated this at CES, ‘So you can get an alert if your daughter goes to see her dirtbag boyfriend you told her not to go see anymore.” [Make sure to check out that full speech from CES 2012.]

Getting a little Orwellian, aren’t we? Oh well, the age of spying on your kids and making them miserable is here!

Dell’Abate names more of his favorite features (just a snapshot, watch the full video for all of them):

SmartPark: “Notes a vehicle’s location every time you press the door lock button.”

Viper Motor Club:“Locked out? Dead battery? Need a tow? It’s a lot like AAA, but Viper Motor Club is included with all SmartStart Secure plans.”

He ends by saying: “I love when a company takes something I’ve used for years and vastly improves it, and Viper has done just that.”

Thanks Baba Booey for your shout-out and kind words, we’re proud to have you plugged in and living the Viper SmartStart lifestyle!

Hey Viper fans, did you see this cool little feature in your Viper SmartStart app?

Halloween isn’t all that comes along with October, it’s also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month — and Viper is on the front lines of the fight.

For the past year, Viper has donated the proceeds from downloads of its special-edition pink User Interface for the award-winning Viper SmartStart mobile app to benefit breast cancer research.

“Breast cancer kills tens of thousands of women every year in the United States alone,” Mike Simmons, president of Directed, which manufactures Viper products, said. “Viper is proud to help the campaign to increase awareness and fight on the front lines against this horrible disease.”

For every 99-cent download, Viper has donated 100 percent of the net proceeds to groups dedicated to fighting breast cancer.

You know what to do … join the fight!! To find the pink UI, just press the “More” tab in the app, hit the “Customize” icon and take it from there.

Not only is this pink User Interface rockin’ in a stylish color, you’re helping a wonderful cause. Check it out (pictured left) — there are even little hearts on the home screen in place of the “lock” and “unlock” icons.

Keep in mind the pink User Interface is exclusively available for the iPhone.

Car crashes are the main cause of teenage deaths every year. AAA has analyzed data on fatal car crashes and found that 16- and 17-year-old drivers are involved in seven times as many crashes as motorists 40 and over.

Even MORE alarming is that teenagers drive worse when they’re with other teens.

For instance, they are far more likely to speed when with their peers. And as you might expect, many of the fatal crashes that occurred took place at night between 11pm and 5am.

Of course, you have to wonder if any parent would allow their teens to drive during those hours!

The report also shows that drinking and driving is on the decline — but of the young teens involved in traffic fatalities from 2005 to 2010, 13 percent were driving alone while under the influence. The number was 18 percent when there were three or more teens on board.

Guess where teens learn their driving habits? Their parents!

Read the full article here and get the scoop on AAA’s graduated licensing program.

For more on teen driver safety programs, like the one sponsored by Bridgestone, click here.

So it’s no wonder that the 12-volt industry is optimistic about the growth for the remote start via smartphone market. Our own VP of Product Planning James Turner joined other executives in the consensus view.

Discussing the growth of Viper SmartStart, Turner said: “We do believe it’s going to be the fastest-growing category we have.”

About 350,000 remote start kits are sold in the aftermarket each year and experts agree that smartphone remote start systems will reach a high of 10 percent of that market this year — at least! And given the rising sales of smartphones in general, that number should continue to climb in the near future.

So, get out of the way, skeptics!!!! And get on board with the cloud-connected car!

(And psssssssssst, by the way, why not get on board with Viper, who innovated and brought you the first-ever smartphone app that could start your car — and has delivered the most new features for customers ever since? Sounds pretty good to us!)

Any new Viper SmartStart features that you’d like to see, let us know in comments!

Read a full report on the growth of smartphone remote starters from CE Outlook below here: